I’m running out of stuff to watch on the BBC’s iPlayer now that Tribal Wives seems to have finished – and there’s no new Snog Marry Avoid (a make-under show, how about that for a twist on the genre?). I’d noticed Bonekickers, which seems to be some kind of archaeological detective drama, and decided it looked promising. Should be cool, intelligent, historical and interesting, right?

5 minutes later – make it STOP! There are a lot of very very good actors in this country who would love to land a recurring TV role – so why aren’t any of them in this programme? Not to mention the hammy script. Waaah! I’d rather play Tomb Raider – it would probably kill fewer brain cells.

I did something today that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. I made a loan through Kiva. Until recently I had been making monthly donations to the MSF Australia and Greenpeace, however these were coming out of my New Zealand bank account without any funds coming in! So I finally stopped them. I will probably continue to donate to MSF from here. I do a lot of research before donating to any charity (which is why I hate the people who work on the street, on commission, whose sole mission is to sign you up there on the spot) and MSF gets a big tick from me.

I’m moving off-topic though. I first heard about Kiva at least a year ago. They are a not-for-profit that arranges microfinance for people and groups in developing countries. Anyone can lend any amount of money they like. Through the magic of the internet, Kiva matches up lenders with borrowers through local microfinance groups. It’s a fantastic idea and one that works really well. It’s been very popular with lenders as they can see where their money is going and really feel like they are doing something good. It’s also not charity or “aid” as such – these people want to fight their own way out of poverty, they have figured out how they need to do it, and they will work hard to pay back the money they borrow.

My loan was to the Ntinda Kafene Women’s group in Uganda. It was hard not to get carried away and lend to more borrowers! I think I will make it a regular thing, and then when my money is paid back I will of course re-lend it.

1. The Interweave autumn (fall) preview is up. I don’t know if I can think about autumn/winter knitting at this point, it’s actually hot here in London for once! There is some really nice design there though – not so much stuff I would knit myself, but some good inspiration and it sounds like the articles will be good too. They’ve continued their use of “real” models even more in this issue – good work! I’d probably knit the Little Blue Sweater, but for inspiration the Braided Pullover is awesome.

2. Vogue knitting preview also up! I don’t think there was anything I wanted to knit there, but the page isn’t loading right now so I can’t check. Some good inspiration though.

3. The Knitty Summer Surprise patterns are up. The “Hey, Teach!” cardigan is cute, and I’d like to try the 2nd Time Cotton (mental note). Ooh, I just clicked over to Sea Tangles. Not sure if I’d use the stainless steel for a whole sweater, but it looks cool. I really want to try out the Kusha Kusha scarf using that stainless steel one day. I haven’t knit a scarf in years and I see afewinmyfuture… maybe while I’m in New Zealand I’ll knit some.

As for my current knitting, I did start the Tulip Kimono and have almost finished the back. Imagine a vast stocking stitch rectangle and you’ll understand why I haven’t posted pictures. The yarn is scrummy though. I just looked up the blend and it’s 35% cotton, 25% polyamide, 18% viscose, 9% cashmere – I had thought it was all natural fibres, hmm. My ethical dilemma is that I love viscose but apparently it is horribly polluting. Ditto cotton, for that matter. Oops.

Eight years ago, Rebecca and I attended the Expo 2000 in Hanover. I think the highlight of the expo for both of us was playing a Swedish game called Brainball. In the game, two of you sit at opposite ends of a table. There is a ball in the middle of the table and two circles representing goals at each end. The goal is to get the ball into your opponent’s goal. Sort of like table hockey, I guess.

Except for how you are meant to achieve it! Both of you are hooked up with a headset that measures alpha and theta brainwaves. The brainwaves control the movement of the ball – the more relaxed you are, the more chance you have of scoring. Genius! Of course, as soon as you see the ball heading for your opponent’s goal you start to get excited and it can come careening back at you.

The other day we were reminiscing about how great the game was and I decided to do some Googling to see if it was around anywhere. Looks like it was at the Science Museum for a while but it’s gone now. The BBC also have one that they use on various children’s shows. But it is available for purchase at the low low price of £11,000! (plus VAT and delivery)

It was Jason’s birthday yesterday, and he had asked for a mint chocolate mud cake. Just to be difficult! The only thing is I really don’t like mint chocolate very much, so I came up with a clever solution:

Chocolate mud cake with after dinner mints stuck in the top!

The cake has over 400g of dark (85%) chocolate in it – it truly was death by chocolate. A little bit much for me but Jason had seconds. Half of the chocolate I bought in Belgium and the other half is fair trade organic stuff. I actually had a bit of a hangover this morning from eating this thing!